Inquiring Minds

Questions About Physics

Particles and Their Properties

Question:
I was hoping that you could help me learn how to figure out the number
of protons, the number of neutrons, and the number of electrons of a
particular atom. For example, oxygen is 8 O 16, I'm not sure how to figure
this out. Thanks in advance for your assistance.
- D

Answer:
Dear D:

The key properties of an atom (like oxygen) are described by the Atomic
Number (which is 8 for Oxygen) and the total number of nucleons (which is 16
for Oxygen). The atomic number gives the number of protons in the atom. The
number of nucleons gives the total number of protons plus neutrons in the
atom. The number of nucleons is always very close to the atomic weight of
the atom (which is 15.9994 for Oxygen).

Here a simple way to remember this:
Since an atom is electrically neutral, an atom has always the same number of
electrons (negative charge) and protons (positive charge). The neutrons, of
course, are neutral.

Now you can figure out how many electrons, protons and neutrons Oxygen has:
Atomic number (which is always the smaller of the two numbers) is 8. Hence 8
protons. Because the atom is neutral, there are also 8 electrons.
Number of nucleons (which is the larger of the two numbers because it counts
all nucleons, not just protons): 16. This is the total number of protons and
neutrons. Subtract the number of protons (8) and you get the number of
neutrons, which is also 8.

Another example: Iron, which is 26 Fe 56. It has 26 protons, 26 electrons,
and 56-26=30 neutrons.